One bite of the Cherry

Jamie Oliver's risotto ai funghi a prezzemolo

2007-02-28T22:33:00.000+13:00

Continuing my Jamie Oliver week. Tonight's meal was risotto ai funghi a prezzemolo (or mushroom and parsley risotto to the non Italian speakers amoungst us!) from the Italy book. I love risotto, and the Princess of Power has a thing for rice (or 'ice') at the moment. I adore mushrooms, but MacMan isn't so keen. However, he wasn't in for dinner this evening so it didn't really matter what he likes or not!! This was sooo lovely - really flavoursome, and very moreish. It was a bit fiddly to do, but not at all complicated. I'll definitely be cooking it again - just not for MacMan. Pah!

Jamie Oliver's risotto ai funghi a prezzemolo
Mushroom and parsley risotto
Serves 6

For a basic risotto bianco
1 l of stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
a knob butter
1 large onion - finely chopped
2 garlic cloves - finely chopped
1/2 head of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
400g Risotto rice
2 wine glasses full of dry white wine
salt and pepper
70 g butter
115g parmesan – grated

For the funghi e prezemolo
200g wild mushrooms - cleaned and torn
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 bulb garlic - separated in individual cloves, peeled and cut in half
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 tablespoon butter
1 bunch fresh parsley - very finely chopped
lemon juice

Step one: Bring the stock to a boil. In another pot heat the butter and olive oil together and add the chopped onion, celery and garlic. On a low heat cook very gently for 15 minutes without colouring. Add the rice and turn up the heat.
Step Two: Keep stirring the rice while it cooks and turns translucent. After a minute, add the wine. It will smell amazing!
Step Three: Once this has evaporated, add a ladle full of the stock. Stir well and add a touch of salt. Reduce the temperature so that the rice doesn't cook too quickly. Now, keep adding ladle full of stock, allow the rice to soak this up and stirring every now and then. When the rice has soaked the liquid add another ladle full. This whole process takes approx. 15 minutes. Check the rice to see if cooked. If not, add more stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Season to taste.
Step Four:Take the pot off the heat and add the butter and parmesan cheese. Mix well and cover.

The wild mushroom mixture:
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Around the end of preparing Step Three (above) you should begin with the preparation of the mushroom mixture. Heat an ovenproof pan and add some olive oil. Fry the mushrooms for approx. 1-2 minutes until they begin to colour. Season, and add the garlic thyme and butter and mix altogether.
Place the pan in the preheated oven and roast the mushrooms for 6 minutes or so.
At stage 4 of the risotto recipe, stir in all of the parsley to give a great colour and smell. Chop half of the roasted mushrooms and stir into the risotto. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice to balance the flavours.
Serve up the risotto, and sprinkle over the remaining mushrooms. Serve with grated parmesan.

Jamie Oliver's Traybaked Chicken Maryland

2007-02-27T23:11:00.000+13:00

My granny used to make chicken Maryland for us when we stayed with her for holidays when I was a little girl. We used to love it, and it was especially a favourite for my big sister (who is now vegan, though I don't think it was overdosing on chicken Maryland that did it!!).

Jamie O's version is traybaked, rather than fried like the traditional one. So in theory it should be a bit healthier. However, this one is cooked in double cream and wine - so it's not exactly low fat!!

I'll definitely be cooking this again. Stuffing the chicken with banana may sound a little odd, but works hugely well. All The Family enjoyed this - even the Princess, and Twirly Boy asked for seconds. I drained off the creamy liquor and will use it in place of plain chicken stock for a risotto I'm cooking tomorrow.

Jamie Oliver's Traybaked Chicken Maryland

2007-02-26T21:41:00.000+13:00

Edmonds Cookbook is legendary in NZ. It was first published in 1955, with a further 56 reprints. It has sold over 3 million copies, which for a country with a population of little more than 4 million, that really is pretty good going! Kiwis are very proud of this cookbook, and it is regarded very much as a national institution. I was lucky enough to be given a copy this week, and thought I'd better dip straight in!!
My first experience of baking from the Edmonds book was a good one. The carrot cake was so moist, and proved very popular.

Carrot Cake
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamoon
3 cups grated carrot
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used dessicated coconut as MacMan isn't keen on walnuts)
1 tsp orange rind
3/4 cup crushed pineapple

Beat eggs until thick. Stir in oil.
Sift flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon into the egg mixture and combine.
Fold in carrots, walnuts (or coconut!), orange rind and pineapple.
Grease and line the base of a 23cm ring tin. (I used two loaf tins). Spoon mixture into tin.
Bake at 180C for 40 minutes, until cake springs back when pressed gently.
Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
When cold, ice with cream cheese icing if wished.

Cream cheese icing
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind

Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Mix in icing sugar and lemon rind, beating well to continue.

Cheese, corn and coriander muffins

2007-02-26T20:58:00.001+13:00

I made these savoury muffins as lunch box fillers. They're good cold - but were even better straight out of the oven!!

Cheese, corn and coriander muffins
Makes 12 standard muffins

1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp paprika
1/2 mature cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup sweetcorn
1/4 cup chopped coriander
50g butter
1 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 200C. Grease or line muffin pans with paper cases.
Sift the flour, salt, sugar and paprika into a large bowl. Stir in the grated cheese.
Add the corn and coriander.
In a separate bowl, melt the butter. Add the yogurt and beaten eggs. Beat together.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and combine well.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins.
Bake for 20 mins.
Enjoy!

Thai fish curry

2007-02-26T20:33:00.000+13:00

This was my final dish of the week from Taste's budget feature. It was very tasty, but went against the grain a bit as it used jarred Thai curry paste,whereas I prefer to make sauces etc from scratch. It was the second fish dish of the week, and both of them Thai influenced. However, both were a success with The Family, so both will be repeated at some point.

My main changes to the recipe was to use red curry paste rather than green, as we already had red in the cupboard from the fishcakes! I didn't use aubergines either as MacMan isn't keen, so it would seem to serve both fish and aubergines in one dish.

Thai Fish Curry

Nigella's cupcakes

2007-02-24T22:21:00.000+13:00

I made these easy little cakes today to meet the request for 'CAKE'! They're very quick and easy, but also very light and yummy. The Princess of Power's favourite part was of course the decorating afterwards. Apparently it is necessary to test the icing a lot before actually applying to the cakes!

Nigella's cupcakes

Bucatini with sausage, tomato and caramelised onion

2007-02-24T21:51:00.000+13:00

The Princess of Power requested 'sketti' for tea. Conveniently, one of the recipes in the Taste budget feature is a spaghetti dish.

Bucatini with sausage, tomato and caramelised onion

When I'd prepared it, I thought the dish looked a bit bland and uninteresting. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was really tasty. It was a big hit with The Family too (even the Princess made a very good attempt!).

Classic Victoria sponge birthday cake

2007-02-24T19:31:00.000+13:00

I was all set to make MacMan a wonderful rich chocolate birthday cake complete with ganache, until he said he'd rather have a regular sponge cake with home made plum jam in the middle. He didn't even want any buttercream filling, though did relent to having some icing sugar dusting on the top!!
There are lots of victoria sponge recipes, though to be honest they don't vary a huge amount. This month's Taste magazine conveniently had a nice sounding recipe, so I used that one as the magazine was to hand.

Classic Victoria Sandwich

Beef fajitas with avocado, corn and red onion salsa

2007-02-24T17:09:00.000+13:00

It was MacMan's birthday on thursday. We had invited friends over for dinner on the Friday, but I wanted to make a bit of a party tea on his actual birthday just for The Family. The budget meal feature in taste had a recipe for fajitas. I thought this would be fun idea for the kids to put together their own wraps. As well as the avocado and sweetcorn salsa, I made a tomato salsa with spring onions, capsicum and cucumber. I didn't season the steak with an Old El Paso sachet as suggested, but instead marinated it with paprika and crushed garlic for about 20 minutes.

Beef fajitas with avocado, corn and red onion salsa

Thai fish cakes with fresh cucumber pickle

2007-02-21T22:16:00.000+13:00

I'm continuing in my quest to get MacMan to eat (and enjoy eating) more fish. This recipe was another from the Taste magazine budget feature. It was really easy to prepare, and very tasty too. Even MacMan cleaned his plate - result! I served the cakes and pickle with some plain rice.

Thai fish cakes with fresh cucumber pickle
Serves 4

Pickle
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cucumber
3 spring onions, sliced
1/2 tsp crushed chilli

Fish cakes
450g white fish fillets, skin and bone removed (I used red cod)
1 tbsp (or to taste) Thai red paste
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
60g round beans, sliced (I used peas instead)
4 kaffir lime leaves, sliced (optional)
500ml peanut, canola or soya oil
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
lemon wedges to serve

Place vinegar and sugar into a small pan over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes at boiling point. Pour into a small mixing bowl and leave to cool.
Remove the ends from the cucumber. The recipe says to peel, and then to slice into long thin strips. However, I like cucumber peel, so to remove it seems to me to be removing the best bit. Therefore I chopped it into small cubes, peel still on. Place in the bowl with the vinegar mix. Toss in the sliced spring onion and chilli (which I ommitted as I thought the dish would be spicey enough with the fishcakes). Cover, and set aside.
Pop the fish in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the Thai red paste, salt, fish sauce, beans and lime leaves. Blend until mixture holds together.
Tip out mixture onto a board, and knead together. Shape into about 20 balls and flatten each one into a cake.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Cook the cakes each side until golden brown.
Serve with chopped peanuts and lemon wedges, with the pickle on the side.

Phoebe's fabulous oatmeal-raisin cookies.

2007-02-21T15:07:00.000+13:00

I was a huge fan of 'Friends' in the 90s. To the extent that I (like 50% of the female population) even had a 'Rachel' haircut!
This recipe is taken from the 'Cooking with Friends' book. It was featured in the episode when Phoebe had to break it to Rachel that Paulo was a cheat, so makes some of the 'best oatmeal-raisin cookies in the world' to help ease the blow. Rachel thinks they're gorgeous, and wants to know why has she never tasted them before. Phoebe explains (as only Phoebe can) that she doesn't make them a lot as she doesn't think it's fair to the other cookies!
The Princess of Power had a friend over to play today, and requested cookies. I gave these a shot, and I have to say that they really are very lovely. I'll have to be very diplomatic to the other cookies from now on!

Phoebe's fabulous oatmeal-raisin cookies
Makes 24 large cookies

12 tbsp softened butter (I measured 180ml in a cup measure)
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 180C.
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth.
Stir together oats, flour, baking powder and soda in a separate bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the batter until combined.
Add in the raisins.
Heap desertspoonfuls of the mixture onto lined baking sheets. Leave at least 5cm between each to allow room for spreading.
Bake until the cookies are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. (I cooked mine for 12 minutes, for that lovely typical chewy American cookie).
Cool cookies on sheets for a few minutes, and then transfer to a rack to cool further.

Potato and Lentil Curry

2007-02-20T20:56:00.000+13:00

This month's cover of Taste magazine caught my eye, declaring 'Chic dining on a shoestring'. The feature gives a week's menu, with all of the dishes apparently costing under $20NZ (about £7.50) for a family of four.
Most of my planned menu for the following week is taken from this feature. Anything that helps ease the purse strings is welcome, and the recipes sound delicious too!

Potato and Lentil Curry
Serves 4

I chose this particular recipe first as it required tomatoes and lentils. I had quite a lot of the salsa and lentil mixtures left over from yesterday's Jamie Oliver dish. So I didn't follow the recipe from the magazine to the letter, but used it as inspiration! I added half a teaspoon or so of each garam masala, cumin, ground coriander, and paprika to the oil as I wasn't using 'Indian Spiced' tomatoes. I also added a tin of coconut milk to make my rather spicey curry acceptable to Twirly Boy.

Jamie Oliver's salsicce con lenticche verdi e salsa di pomodoro

2007-02-19T19:04:00.000+13:00

Phew. Sorry to any blog watchers that I've not updated recently. Twirly Boy went back to school on 7th February after the loooong summer holidays, and the Princess of Power back to playcentre. The start of the new school year has also seen the start of various activities for both the kids. It's been a fun couple of weeks getting into our routine again, but I haven't had much chance to blog. The Family haven't starved though, honest Guv! I've been cooking and baking as ever, I just haven't had chance to write about it.

This recipe is from Jamie O's Italy. I first bought it when it was newly out. To be honest, I've not given the book a really good try out, as at the time we hadn't eaten meat for about ten years, and a lot of the recipes are meaty. Now that we're back in the land of the meat-eaters, I have promised myself that I'll give the book a good test run in the next few weeks. I've wanted to go to Italy ever since I swooned at the period drama 'Room with a view'. Sadly I've not made it to Italy - and now I live so far away I'm thinking it may be some time before I get to visit the culinary mecca. For now I'll have to make do with occasional dips into this lovely book.

Salsicce con lenticche verdi e salsa di pomodoro
Or sausages and green lentils with tomato salsa

The recipe calls for Italian sausages, or good fat Cumberlands. It's bit of a running joke amoungst British ex-pats that it's impossible to find a decent sausage in NZ, so I'm afraid Cumberland were out of the question, but 'London Pride' variety did perfectly well.
This was really delicious, and quite unlike anything in my existing 'repetoire'. MacMan and Twirly Boy both cleaned their plates. The Princess of Power, however, told me that 'No like it, mummy'. As she had refused to actually try any, I'm not quite sure how she knew this. But two out of three ain't bad.

Valentine Jammy Dodgers

2007-02-14T22:32:00.000+13:00

Tana Ramsey's Jammy Dodgers remain a firm favourite with The Family. I made heart shaped ones today, and even managed to find a diddy heart cutter in a local kitchen shop for the centres.
Happy Valentine's Day!!

Muesli bars

2007-02-06T09:04:00.000+13:00

I spied this recipe on a can of condensed milk in the supermarket. So of course had to buy the can so I could get the recipe!! A victim of clever marketing? Me? Never!!
Anyway, Twirly Boy is back at school tomorrow. The summer holidays are finally over. These wee bars will be great for packed lunches.

Muesli bars
Makes 24 squares

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup rice krispies
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup chopped pitted dates
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 tbsp cocoa powder
395g can light condensed milk
2 tbsp runny honey

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 27cm X 18cm X 3cm tin with baking paper.
Place dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Pour condensed milk and runny honey into a saucepan (preferably non-stick). Bring to the boil over a low heat stirring all the time. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour the hot condensed milk mixture onto the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Press mixture into the tin, and bake for 20 minutes.
Cut into bars in tin while still warm. Leave to cool in tin.

Apple cider chicken with sage

2007-02-05T21:50:00.000+13:00

No prizes for guessing where this recipe came from! When I planned this week's menu, I didn't cotton on that it was all from the same recipe book. Doh! Most of the recipes are completely new to me though as the book was a Christmas present.
In common with all the other recipes I've tried from Cafe Collection this week, it was a hit. Even the Princess of Power had a good go at hers - which is no mean feat!! I served the chicken with potato wedges, oven cooked in olive oil and sea salt, and steamed broccoli. My only change to the recipe was that I used chicken breasts rather than thighs, as they were on special offer!!

Apple cider chicken with sage
Serves 4

8 large boneless chicken thighs
5 cloves garlic, chopped
small bunch fresh sage leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 apples, cored and sliced into thin wedges
extra oil to fry apples
(I ommitted the apple garnish)

Place chicken in a non metallic dish. Cover with the garlic, sage leaves, olive oil, balsamic, and apple cider. Leave to marinate overnight.
Heat oven to 180C. Transfer chicken and marinade to a roasting pan. Add stock and seasoning, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile fry apple slices until golden brown.
Remove chicken from juices, and keep warm with apples. Reduce juices until syrupy. Pour over chicken and serve immediately.

Beef and chorizo pie

2007-02-04T20:52:00.000+13:00

I have a stinky cold at the moment, so MacMan took the kids out this afternoon so I could go back to bed! Before he went, he prepared the filling for this pie (with minimal assistance from me) and popped it in the slow cooker to do its thing. All that was left to do when The Family got home was put on the pastry lids, and finish off in the oven for 20 mins. The recipe is for 8 portions. We prepared the full quantity of pie filling, and froze half for another time.
It was really tasty and flavoursome. I really enjoyed it despite having funny cold tastebuds. Like most of this week's menu, it's another recipe from 'Cafe Collection' by Julie le Clerc.

Beef and chorizo pies
Serves 8

Filling:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 kg braising beef steak
3 chorizo or spicy sausages, sliced
2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
5 tbsp flour
1 cup dry red wine
3 cups beef stock
(I only had 2 cups stock, so used 2 cups wine instead of one)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp chopped thyme
salt and pepper
1 beaten egg to glaze

Ready rolled puff pastry - 4 sheets

Brown the beef and chorizo in a hot pie with some of the olive oil. Remove to one side.
Add remaining oil to pan, with the onions and garlic. Stir over a medium heat until starting to brown. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
Remove from heat, and stir in wine and stock to form a smooth liquid. Return to heat and boil until sauce thickens.
Stir in tomato paste and thyme.
Add meat and chorizo (At this stage I added everything to the slow cooker, and simmered for about 3 hours). If stove top cooking, simmer for about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Spoon into 8 1-cup capacity individual pie dishes.
Cover with pastry lid, press down around edge to secure. Glaze pastry with beaten egg.
Bake 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden brown.
Serve! We had ours with mashed potato and broccoli. Yum!

Pesto, feta and tomato tart.

2007-02-03T20:43:00.002+13:00

This is a recipe from the Cafe Collection (again!). It is also virtually identical to one posted by one of the damsels. It's probably one of the easiest dishes I've prepared in a long time - but no less delicious for being so simple. I served it with left over roasted kumara from yesterday, with broccoli all dressed in a mayo and sour cream mix. Clean plates all around!

Pesto, feta and tomato tart
Makes 8 tarts

2 sheets prerolled puff pastry
8 tbsp basil pesto (I used home made)
2 tomatoes - sliced
100g feta - crumbled
(recipe also calls for black olives, but I left these out as the kids don't like them)

Heat oven to 190C
Cut each sheet of pastry into quarters, and place onto an oiled baking sheet.
Score a 1cm border around each square.
Spread a layer of pesto onto each square, topping with a slice of tomato and crumbled feta cheese, and an olive if desired.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until edges are puffed and golden brown.

Summer lamb meatloaf

2007-02-02T20:04:00.000+13:00

MacMan has been asking me to make meatloaf for ages. This is a bit fancier than your bog standard Simpsons meatloaf, as it's made with lamb mince rather than the much cheaper beef mince. The extra cost is so worth it though, as this was very tasty, and complimented by everyone. I served it with the roasted kumara dish (see below).

Summer lamb meatloaf
Serves 4

500g lamb mince
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup tomato paste
75g bacon, chopped
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs
juice and zest 1 lemon
3 extra slices bacon

Preheat oven to 200C.
Mix all ingredients together (except extra bacon) until well blended.
Shape into long loaf. Wrap with bacon slices.
Place in an oiled oven pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
Serve hot or cold, cut into slices.

Sweet potato roasted with lemon, red onions and spices

2007-02-02T19:35:00.001+13:00

This is another recipe from Cafe Collection by Julie le Clerc. It caught my eye as it involves several of my favourite foods - sweet potato, red onions and grainy mustard.

Sweet potato roasted with lemon, red onions and spices
Serves 6

4 medium kumara (sweet potato), peeled
2 lemons, cut into wedges
2 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
12 whole cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 200C.
Cut kumara into small wedges, and par boil for 2 minutes.
Drain well. Place kumara, onions. garlic cloves, lemon, and bay leaves in a roasting dish.
Mix remaining ingredients together, and pour over vegetables. Toss well to coat.
Roast for 20-30 minutes until kumara tender and golden brown.
Can be served hot or cold.

More Plums!

2007-02-02T10:50:00.000+13:00

Lovely neighbour gave us yet more plums at the beginning of the week. Rather than make another batch of jam, I saw a recipe for plum chutney in Julie le Clerc's Cafe Collection. I remember my mum making chutney when I was younger - though she used to make Green Tomato Chutney to use up huge yields of tomatoes from our garden. My sister would dread going home after school if we knew she was making chutney, as she hated the smell!!
I was really pleased with the plum chutney, though I had to let it simmer a lot longer than the recipe advises to get it thick enough. Maybe the particular variety of plum has a low amount of pectin?

Spicey Plum Chutney
Makes about 8 cups (2 litres)

2kg dark plums, stoned and chopped
500g onions, peeled and diced
5 cups brown sugar
4 cups malt vinegar
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground cloves

Place all ingredients into a preserving pan or large saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
Boil gently, stirring frequently, for about one and a half hours or until chutney is thick and jam like (as I said above, I needed to do this for much longer - probably about three hours, to get the desired consistency).
Ladle into hot sterilised jars, and seal well.

Gingerbread biscuits

2007-01-30T23:59:00.000+13:00

The Princess of Power requested "make dinosaur biscuits", so it was perfect oppurtunity to try out this gingerbread recipe from Apples for Jam. These biscuits are made with maple syrup, whereas most gingerbread biscuit recipes I have come accross use golden syrup. I lurve maple syrup. I first came accross it (or it's pretender) as a child when we would stop at 'Little Chef' restaurants when Dad needed a driving break on our trips to visit far flung family. He would usually order pancakes with maple syrup. I gradually became a convert, and now adore the stuff. Sadly it's quite pricey here - more so than the UK, but then I guess it has to travel further! I look out for it on special offer in 'New World' supermarket, and stock up on a couple of bottles when it's reduced.

Gingerbread biscuits
Makes about 35 biscuits, depending on size of cutters

50ml maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp gound cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
100ml single cream
100g sugar
100g butter, softened
1 egg
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Put the maple syrup and spices in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring to dissolve the spices. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Beat sugar and butter together until sugar dissolves. Add the egg. Mix in flour and baking powder, and maple syrup mixture.
Mix well with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thick and smooth.
Cover the dough with a plastic wrap, and place in fridge for at least 3 hours or even overnight. (At this stage I thought the mixture looked like a thick cake mixture, and couldn't see how it would turn into a dough! I left mine overnight, and it really did thicken up a lot. It was a bit sticky though, but with generous flouring of the surface, it was fine).
Preheat oven to 190C.
Take large lumps of dough, and roll out on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin to 5mm thickness. Cut shapes with your cookie cutters, and place on paper lined baking trays.
Bake for 12-15 mins. Cool on wire racks.

Beef Goulash

2007-01-30T23:58:00.001+13:00

This is a recipe taken from MacMan's work recipe book. I prepared it and chucked it all in the slow cooker before we went out for the afternoon. The kitchen smelled devine when we got home!

Beef Goulash
Serves 4 (generous portions)

1kg stewing steak
75g flour
2 tsp paprika
4 onions, sliced
300ml red wine
2 bay leaves
8 prunes
1 clove garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp natural yogurt
4 tomatoes peeled and sliced (I used a can whole tomatoes)

Preheat oven 150C.
Cut the meat into large chunks. Coat in the flour.
Brown the meat in the olive oil in a saucepan. Transfer to casserole dish.
Brown the onions, and add to the meat, along with the tomatoes, bay leaves, prunes, garlic, paprika and wine. Bring to the boil on the stove.
Cover casserole dish with a lid, and cook 3-4 hours or until the meat is tender.
Stir in yogurt just before serving.
Recipe suggests serving with pan roasted potatoes and green vegetables. We had rice instead - which worked well too.

Plum jam

2007-01-29T20:54:00.000+13:00

Our lovely neighbour has recently given me a bucketload (literally) of plums from his tree. They're really sweet, but there are far too many for us to eat.
I've used about a third of them to make jam. Plum jam evokes lovely childhood memories when my mum would make a huge batch of jam in an old brass preserving pan that belonged to my great grandmother. In keeping with family tradition, I couldn't get the jam to set - although I followed a Mrs Beaton recipe - and so had to add a couple of sachets of fruit pectin. I remember this happening to my mum, who by the way is a fabulous cook! We went strawberry picking, and she made a batch of jam with some of our haul. The first batch wouldn't set. So my (very witty!) dad labelled the jars for her 'Strawberry Sauce' rather than jam. It was great with ice-cream though. She later discovered that adding rhubarb to the mixture makes the jam set due to the high amount of pectin in rhubarb. Maybe I should have tried that!! Here is the recipe that I used - although it didn't entirely work for me! It did set as desired when the pectin was added, and the resulting jam is delicious.

Mrs Beaton's Plum Jam

1 lb plums
3/4 lb sugar

cut fruit in half and remove stones.
Cover fruit with sugar in a large preserving pan, and leave overnight.
Bring fruit/sugar mixture to boil. Simmer for half an hour.
Then increase heat and boil for 15 minutes.
Transfer hot jam to sterilised jars.

Spaghetti and meatballs

2007-01-29T20:52:00.000+13:00

This is a recipe from a lovely family cook book called Apples for Jam. I've seen quite a few recipe for meatballs recently. This one seemed as good as any, and was a good oppurtunity to try out the new book. I have to admit ours was actually pasta and meatballs rather than the specified spaghetti, as that's what we had in the larder!

Spaghetti and meatballs
Serves 4

Meatballs:
40-50g soft crustless white bread
4 tbsp milk
400 g minced pork and beef (I just used minced pork, and it was lovely)
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 small red onion
about 4 tbsp olive oil for frying

Sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
400g tin tomatoes
torn basil leaves (I used a couple of tbsp fresh pesto instead, that needed using up)

350g spaghetti
30g butter
grated parmesan to serve

For the meatballs, soak the bread in the milk in a small bowl, squishing it in your fingers so it breaks up completely.
Put the mince in a large bowl with the herbs and spices, the bread mixture, and 1/2 tsp salt. Grate in the onion ( I grated mine in the food processor, else I find I cry too much!)
Mix everything together thoroughly, kneading with your hands as though bread dough.
Form into about 25 meatballs, about the size of small tomatoes, rolling between your palms so they are compact and smooth.
Heat the olive oil in a non stick frying pan, and fry the meatballs. Recipe suggests in batches - however I managed fine doing them all together, though my frying pan is big.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic cloves, cook for a minute or two until fragrant. Then add the tomato and basil and simmer for 10 minutes. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon.
When all the meatballs have been fried, add then to the tomato sauce and add about 250ml water. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Cook the spaghetti is boiling salted water. When cooked, drain, and return to pan and toss the butter through.
Serve the pasta in bowls, with a good ladleful of sauce and meatballs over the top, and sprinkle with grated parmesan.

Pork fillets with leeks, apricots, currants and pinenuts

2007-01-28T10:55:00.000+13:00

This is another recipe from MacMan's workplace book. I don't cook a lot of pork - although I'm not sure as I love it. We had a friend over for dinner last night, and both he and MacMan completely cleaned their plates. I'm guessing they liked it! Twirly Boy also finished his. The Princess of Power ate some rice, but then her eating issues are quite a separate issue at the moment. Sigh.

Pork fillet with leeks, apricots, currants and pinenuts
Serves 4 - large portions

750g pork fillet, cut into large chunks
1 cup dried apricots
500g leeks, washed and sliced
150ml white wine
1-2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp currants ( I left these out)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1-2 tbsp pinenuts

Preheat oven to 180C.
Spread three quarters of the leeks in a casserole dish.
Put three quarters of the apricots in a pan with the white wine, Slowly bring to boil, and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour evenly over the leeks in the casserole dish.
Place the pork chunks on top of the leek/apricot mixture. Bake in uncovered casserole dish for an hour, turning the meat once.
Melt the butter in a pan, and fry the remaining apricots that have been cut into strips, until golden brown. Add the pinenuts and currants (I left out the currants). Then add the remaining leeks, stir and toss until just cooked. Add the spices and heat through. Keep warm.
Take the casserole out of the oven, and remove the pork to a plate.
Puree the remaining leek and apricot mixture from the bottom of the casserole dish in a food processor/liquidiser etc.
Return the pureed sauce to the casserole, and arrange the cooked pork on the top.
As a final layer, place the fried apricot/leek/pinenut mixture over the top. Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes.
The dish can be served with rice or couscous. We had plain rice - which I cooked while the pork was in the oven for the final 15 minutes.

Lemon and white chocolate muffins

2007-01-27T13:20:00.000+13:00

A friend was recently hunting for a lemon and white chocolate muffin recipe. Neither of us could find one. I adapted some existing recipes, and came up with this. I was really chuffed with the result - very lemony and moist.

Lemon and white chocolate muffins
Makes 12

1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbs finely shredded lemon peel
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup butter melted
1/2 cup white chocolate chunks pieces
1 tsp lemon essence

Preheat oven to 200C. Prepare muffin pan with papers or by greasing.
Mix flour, sugar, lemon peel, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
In a separate bowl or jug, combine eggs, yogurt, lemon juice and essence, and melted butter. Add all at once to flour mixture, stir just until moistened.
Stir in white chocolate. Spoon batter into pan.
Bake at 200C for 20 min. Cool on rack in pan 5 min then turn out.

Minky's Chocolate Cake

2007-01-26T21:13:00.000+13:00

This recipe is courtesy of my favourite Kiwi. She promises it is rich, moist and totally reliable. And she's absolutely right, eh!

Minky's Easy Peasy Fandabbydozy Chocolate Cake Recipe

185g butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 C sugar
2 C flour
1 C cool tap water
3 eggs
2/3 C Cocoa

Put all ingredients in a bowl (room temp butter cut up into cubes).
Mix to combine on low speed.
Increase speed to max and mix for 3 mins or until the colour changes (goes slightly lighter). It might look curdled but this doesn't matter.
Bake in a moderate oven 1.5 hours in a large tin or 1/2 an hour in 2 sandwich tins (greased and lined).

This was lovely. The only hard bit was having to wait the one and half hour cooking time. It was extra torturous as the smell kept wafting in from the kitchen. I served it as pudding, with some chocolate chip ice-cream MacMan brought home in anticipation of this very cake.

Delia's Spinach and ricotta lasagne with pine nuts

2007-01-26T19:56:00.000+13:00

I found this recipe during my search for recipes using spinach (or silver beet). We have an unexplained abundance of silver beet - unexplained as I've never actually so much as watered our veggie patch! MacMan really isn't that keen on spinach, and even less so silver beet - declaring it as tasting like grass. This recipe caught my eye as Dame Delia declares this to be "an absolute hit with everyone who eats it – even my husband, who professes not to like spinach!"

The recipe was quite faffy - although to be honest I do find Delia's instructions can be quite faffy on the whole anyway. I substituted the recommended blue cheese for feta, as I wasn't sure if Twirly Boy and the Princess of Power would take kindly to blue cheese. Otherwise I followed the recipe as Dame Delia recommends. And Dame Delia is indeed right about it being a hit even for those who don't like spinach. MacMan even asked for it to be cooked again - result!

Chicken Laska

2007-01-25T20:04:00.000+13:00

This recipe was taken from a cookbook produced by one of MacMan's colleagues. He works in a very multicultural department, so they thought it would be fun for everyone to take in favourite recipes for the book to inspire each other.
I chose this particular recipe as it had green beans in. Our lovely neighbour has just given us a huge bag of beans from his garden, so I've been looking for suitable recipes.
Chicken Laska is a Malaysian recipe. Strictly speaking, it's a soup. I left out the chicken stock stipulated, and served it as a curry instead. I'm not at all experienced in cooking Malaysian food, so apart from leaving out the chicken stock, I stuck to the recipe exactly. It was very simple - and really tasty.

Chicken Laska
Serves 4

4 chicken breasts
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1-2 tsp thai sweet chilli sauce
100g green beans cut into 2inch pieces
1 tin coconut milk
750ml chicken stock (if you want a soupy consistency; leave out if you want a curry)
1 tbsp fish sauce
300g noodles

Slice chicken into strips and stir fry in the oil, in a wok or non stick pan.
Remove chicken from pan, and set aside in a plate.
Add the garlic, ginger and chilli sauce to the pan. Toss in the beans. Cook for a minute.
Add coconut milk, coriander and fish sauce. Then the stock (if desired). Bring to a simmer.
Add the noodles, and also the cooked chicken.
Simmer for a further 3-4 minutes. Serve immediately in large bowls.

Ricotta hotcakes

2007-01-24T23:08:00.001+13:00

This is another recipe taken from a tinned milk feature in Taste magazine. We love pancakes, so I wanted to give this a go to see how it compared to the pikelets, crepes and drop scones I already cook.

Ricotta hotcakes

Serves 4

200g ricotta

375ml tin evaporated milk

4 eggs, separated

2 cups SR flour

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

olive or canola oil spray

Runny honey, greek yogurt and fresh fruit to serve

Place ricotta, egg yolks and evaporated milk in a large bowl and whisk together until combined.
Add flour, sugar, and cinnamon to the ricotta mixture. Fold in until just combined.
Beat egg whites to stiff peak stage, and fold into mixture gently.
Spray oil into large non stick pan, and heat. Add spoonfuls of the batter to the pan. Cook over a moderate heat for 2-3 minutes each side until golden.
Stack hotcakes on a plate, drizzle with honey, and top with greek yogurt and sliced fruit.

These were really tasty, but a bit on the faffy side. I loved the flavour the evaporated milk gave the hotcakes though. It evoked childhood memories of puddings being served with evaporated milk instead of custard, or even better, a breakfast of squashed banana with demerera sugar and carnation milk!!

Danish Pastry Pizzas - revisited

2007-01-23T11:20:00.000+13:00

We went to a friend's BBQ last night. I took some salad as my contribution, and also some of the Danish Pastry pizzas, but in a sort of bruschetta stylee. I spread a layer of pesto on the dough, then sprinkled on some mozarella and then some fresh tomatoes chopped small. Yum!

Spinach, feta and sundried tomato muffins

2007-01-19T12:56:00.000+13:00

This recipe was part of a feature for tinned milks in Taste magazine. I've loved sweet muffins for ages, and I'm quickly becoming a savoury muffin convert too.
I used fresh cooked silver beet instead of spinach. (We still haven't dug over our inconveniently positioned veggie patch. And of course the more I pick the silver beet, the more it grows! )Apart from that I followed the recipe exactly. Wonders will never cease!
We had these for lunch today - and they were lovely.

Spinach, feta and sundried tomato muffins
Makes 10-12 muffins

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
250g frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
200g feta chopped or crumbled
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
250ml can reduced cream
1/2 cup water
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 180C.
Sieve flour, baking powder and salt and pepper into a large bowl.
Reserve about a quarter of the feta for the topping. Crumble the remaining 3/4 into the dry ingredients, along with the tomatoes.
Mix milk, egg, and water together in separate bowl or jug. Add the spinach (very well drained) and stir well with a fork.
Add wet mixture to dry. Mix gently until combined.
Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tin. Top each muffin with grated parmesan, some crumbled feta and a pinch of paprika.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Stand for 5 minutes, then turn out of tin. Serve warm or cold.

Peanut, raisin and choc chip cookies

2007-01-17T23:10:00.000+13:00

We got in today, and the Princess of Power requested "Cookies please, Mum". Seeing as I was asked so nicely, I could hardly refuse!
This is a Tana Ramsay recipe. I made the daring addition of white and milk chocolate chips.

Peanut, raisin and choc-chip cookies
Makes 24 large cookies

200g butter
200g sugar (I used soft brown as I like the flavour)
400g SR flour
4 tbsp milk
50g raisins
50g unsalted peanuts
50g white choc chips
50g milk chop chips
(Add or takeaway which ever additions you like, so long as they total 200g)

Preheat oven to 160C
Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in the remaining ingredients, and form into a large ball of dough.
Make small dough balls abou 4cm accross. Place on prepared baking tray allowing a good space around them as they will spread when cooking. Gently push each dough ball down to flatten them a little.
Bake for 15 minutes, till light golden.
Remove from oven, and place on cooling rack straight away to prevent from over cooking.
Allow to cool before eating - if you can wait that long!!

These were lovely and easy. Twirly Boy and the Princess of Power were very willing helpers at the ball rolling and squashing stage!

Sticky Citrus Chicken

2007-01-17T23:08:00.000+13:00

This recipe is from a 'Cooking for Kids' booklet that was free with Good Food magazine March 2006 issue. I believe the booklet was so popular, that they sold out of back issues of this particular copy. This is one of those dishes that is popular with kids and adults alike.

Sticky Citrus Chicken
Serves 4

3 large skinless chicken breasts, cut into finger strips
2 tbsp olive oil
juice 1 lemon, plus zest for the rice
1 sweet pepper/capsicum
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
juice 1 orange
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 tbsp clear honey
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

For the rice
200g long grain rice
100g frozen peas
knob butter

Toss the chicken in 1 tbsp olive oil, the lemon juice and a little black pepper. Add the chopped sweet pepper.
Cook the rice according to packet instructions. Add the peas for the remaining 2 minutes.
In a jug, mix the soy sauce with the orange juice, crushed garlic, and honey.
Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan. Stir fry the chicken and pepper for 6-8 minutes.
Pour the soy mix over the chicken mix, and sprinkle in the sesame seeds. Cook over a high heat for 3-4 minutes.
Drain the rice. Stir in the lemon zest and butter. Serve with the citrus chicken.

This is such an easy recipe, but always goes down a treat.

Chocolate Banana Cake

2007-01-16T20:55:00.000+13:00

This is adapted from a recipe for banana cake. I'm not overly keen on plain banana cake - and nor are The Family. The simple addition of some cocoa to turn it into chocolate banana cake makes all the difference.

Chocolate Banana Cake
Makes 2 loaves

2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp bicarb soda
pinch salt
2 beaten eggs
395g tin condensed milk
50g melted butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 160C. Line two 21cmx11cm loaf tins with baking paper (or equivalent).
Combine flour, cocoa, salt and soda in a bowl.
Beat eggs, condensed milk, butter, syrup, vanilla and banana in a separate bowl.
Add wet mixture to dry, and combine thoroughly.
Spoon into the tins. Bake for 50-55 minutes.

This was a lovely moist cake, and went down well.

Nachos

2007-01-16T20:54:00.000+13:00

We find this a fun way to serve mince. I tend to batch cook mince, and freeze it in family meal sized portions. The cooked mince can then be easily adapted to cottage pie, lasagne, chilli etc etc. I find that mince is so much nicer if left onto simmer for an hour or two, and does really nicely in a slow cooker. This recipe is just a suggestion really, as you can add or leave ingredients according to preference.

Mince
Serves 4

500g minced beef
Onion, finely chopped
Carrot, grated
Sun dried tomatoes
Sliced sweet peppers/capsicum
Tin tomatoes
Glass red wine

Brown the mince in a non stick pan.
Add the remaining ingredients, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat, and simmer for at least an hour.

Nachos

Large bag corn chips
Various toppings such as:
Sour cream
Guacamole
Grated Cheese
Sliced jalapeno peppers

Arrange the corn chips on the plate. Top with a serving of the mince mixture.
Serve with your choice of toppings.

Very simple, but always a hit.

Chocolate French Toast

2007-01-16T20:49:00.000+13:00

I have loved French toast (or eggy bread as we called it as kids) as long as I can remember. I saw this sweet version in this month's Taste magazine, and thought it sounded a fun idea for lunch or brunch.

Chocolate French Toast
Serves 4

2 eggs
Large tin evaporated milk
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp sugar
Loaf bread (recipe suggested French stick, which would be lovely. I just used white sliced bread, which was fine, and better for kids who aren't so keen on crusts!)
Bananas, stawberries and maple syrup to serve

Whisk eggs, milk, cocoa and sugar together until well combined.
Dip each slice of bread in the mixture so that both sides are well coated.
Shallow fry in a large frying pan, apprpximately 3 minutes on each side.
Serve with sliced fruit, and drizzle with maple syrup.

This was really lovely. It was quite rich, so the fruit topping was very welcome.

Spacedust's Brownies

2007-01-12T21:25:00.002+13:00

It was a blimmin awful wet day today. So a perfect day for baking. Twirly Boy and the Princess of Power opted to make chocolate brownies. This particular legendary recipe is by far the best brownie recipe I've tried, and is provided courtesy of the delectable Ms Spacedust. The trick is the cut up Mars bars which make the brownies both squidgy and chewy. A perfect combination.
Be warned, cooking with kids and chocolate is not for the faint hearted!!

Spacedust's Brownies
Makes 12 brownies

100g butter
50g cocoa powder
2 eggs
225g castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
50g self-raising flour
50g chocolate cut up or two cut up mars bars
A lot of love and a good mood

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/GM4
Melt the butter then add the cocoa powder stirring well to remove any lumps.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl
Add the sugar and mix until smooth
Stir in the cocoa mixture and the vanilla essence
Gradually add the flour, stirring until everything is combined.
Stir in the chocolate or cut up mars bars.
Pour the mixture into a baking tray lined with paper and place in the oven for about 25 minutes. Then turn the oven down about 20 degrees and bake for a further 5-10 minutes.
When done the brownies should be crisp on the top and soft in the middle.
Leave to cool for 10 minutes before cutting up.

Spanakopita

2007-01-12T21:25:00.001+13:00

We have a veggie patch in the back garden that is in a really inconvenient place! So we're planning on digging it over and turning it into a sandpit for the kids - and make a new veggie patch at the edge of the garden rather than slap bang in the middle of the lawn. Anyway (bear with me - there's a point to this, honestly!) we have a huge amont of silver beet that the previous occupant kindly planted. MacMan isn't overly keen on spinachy type things, but it would be criminal not to use these fresh organic veggies. So organic that they've been watered courtesy of the rain, and that's it. No additive or effort on my part at all.
I got a copy of the current issue of Taste today, just to drag myself away from Tana Ramsay for a minute. They had a Greek feature, which included a recipe for Spanakopita which uses spinach or silver beet. Perfect!

Spanakopita
Serves 6

4 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely sliced
1.5 fresh spinach or silver beet
1/4 cup parsley
300g course textured feta cheese, crumbled
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup cream
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 tbsp melted butter
350g packet filo pastry (I used puff pastry instead as we already had some in the freezer)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
Handful pinenuts - additional option a la Cherrypie

Saute the chopped onionin the olive oil in a frying pan or saucepan.
Wash spinach or silver beet thoroughly. If using sliver beet, chop stalks out. Place in a pan on the stove and cook down gently. Note - the recipe said to use a pan quarter full of boiling water. But there's no need to do this with spinach type veg. There is so much water in the veg anyway, and the veg will be wet from the washing. My mum taught me this, and it stops the spinach going soggy. It also means you won't have to faff with draining and squeezing out excess water later.
In a large bowl place the parsley, crumbled feta, eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix together with a fork. Add the spinach and onion, and mix well.
Brush a metal baking tray with melted butter. Line the tin by laying filo pastry in 8 layers, brushing melted butter inbetween each layer. Altneratively, the easy Cherrypie version is to use a single layer of ready rolled puff pastry!
Spoon the spinach mixture inside the pastry lined tin. Press down well and into the corners.
Top off with 8 layers of filo, again brushing with melted butter. Or a layer of puff pastry.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds (I didn't bother with the sesame seeds).
Bake in preheated oven at 190C for 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

This was really delicious. I actually baked using half quantities - and there was more than enough for two adults and two kids. I won't say that MacMan raved about it, but he did clean his plate so it can't have been too bad. Twirly Boy raved about it - which is lovely for something that has so much green veg. The Princess gave it a good go too, which at the moment is a huge bonus as she's not eating much at all.

Lemon and poppy seed muffins

2007-01-12T12:24:00.000+13:00

This is another recipe taken from the book Muffin Time by NZ food writer Jill Brewis. They're really a variation on lemon drizzle muffins.

Lemon and poppy seed muffins
Makes 12 standard size

2 cups SP flour
3/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp poppy seeds
grated rind 2 lemons
100g butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
Topping
juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 200C
Sieft flour. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add poppy seeds and lemon rind.
Beat melted butter, eggs, and milk together (I didn't have quite enough milk, so made difference up with lemon juice).
Combine wet and dry ingredients. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin.

Bake for 15 minutes, until muffin springs back when pressed with a finger.
While muffins are baking, mix the lemon juice and sugar together. As soon as the muffins are out of the oven, brush the tops with the mixture.
Cool on a rack (if you can wait that long!)

These muffins were really light, and very tasty. The lemon flavour was more subtle than I thought it would be - but still lovely. A hit with everyone.

Slow-cooked lamb, with apricots, ginger and cinnamon

2007-01-10T23:22:00.000+13:00

I love lamb, so really wanted to give this recipe a go. I've never been to Morocco, but I'm guessing that this dish is Moroccan or North African inspired. I used my slow cooker rather than the oven, and it worked a treat. After all - the recipe does day 'slow cooked'!!

Slow cooked lamb with apricots, ginger and cinnamon
Serves 4 (very generous portions)

1 kg lamb, cut into chunks
1 tbsp flour
4 tbsp olive oil
2cm ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 red chilli, seeds removed
3 spring onions
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cinnamon
600 ml chicken stock
16 vine cherry tomatoes
4 sprigs thyme
12 dried apricots
6 pitted prunes, cut in half
50g raisins
4 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
25g flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 160C (if not using slow cooker)
Roll the lamb chunks in the flour. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a pan, and brown the lamb on all sides. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon.
Add the ginger, garlic, chilli and spring onions to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the spices, and return the lamb to the pan. Stir in the stock. Then transfer to an oven proof dish (or slow cooker) and cook for an hour in the oven. (Note, I allowed longer cooking time for the slow cooker).
Add the cherry tomatoes, apricots, prunes and raisins, and half of the chopped coriander, and cook for another half hour.
Serve with couscous, and sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds and remainder of chopped coriander.

It is suggested that it is served with couscous - so to change the habit of a lifetime, I followed the recipe! And it was lovely. MacMan and I both had seconds, and he even took some more in his packed lunch (he's on night shift at the moment. Yuk.) Twirly Boy finished his portion with little argument. Just the Pricess of Power wasn't a fan, professing she didn't like it. As she never actually tasted it, I'm not quite sure how she managed to determine this fact! But 3 out of 4 ain't bad, and it's nice to have a casserole with a different slant.

Kumara Muffins

2007-01-09T23:25:00.000+13:00

I baked these last night to take as part of a picnic lunch for our day out. If I'm honest, it was mainly out of curiosity as I couldn't imagine what a muffin would taste like with kumara. We conveniently had a pan of mashed kumara left over from dinner, as MacMan was called into work early and missed his dinner.

Kumara Muffins
Makes 12 standard size

350g (about 3 medium) kumara, peeled
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup wholemeal flour (I used all plain, as I keep forgetting to buy wholemeal)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
t tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup raisins
2 eggs, beaten
100g butter, melted
1/2 cup milk

Cook kumara until tender. Mash, and allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 200C
Sieve together flours, baking powder and soda, spices and salt. Add sugar. Stir in raisins and kumara.
In separate bowl, mix eggs, butter and milk.
Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients. Combine together.
Spoon into prepared muffin pan, either greased or lined with cases.
Bake 15-20 minutes.

When I first flicked through the book to peruse the recipes, I'd presumed that the kumara muffins would be savoury. But no - they're sweet and cakey, with raisins and spice. Lovely with a cuppa.

Baked Pumpkin and Pea Risotto

2007-01-09T23:18:00.000+13:00

I took the kids out today to meet up with some friends and their kids at a technology and transport museum. Probably sounds dire to the extreme - but it was great fun - model railways, tram rides, hands-on toy museum and lots more. It poured it down all day, so it was great to be doing something like that else we'd be stuck in the house all day going stir crazy.
Anyway, as it was quite a full on day, I didn't fancy cooking a meal that took lots of preparation when we got in. So this baked pumpkin risotto seemed a good choice. Unlike most risotto that tie you to the stove for half an hour, this one is cooked in the oven and requires only slight tweaking at the end.

Baked Pumkin and Pea Risotto
Serves 6 children

400g risotto rice
1 1/4 litres chicken stock
50g butter
500g pumpkin, peeled and cut into cubes
12 slices pancetta or bacon
handful peas (recipe says fresh, but I used frozen)
250g parmesan, grated
1 tbsp parsley

Place rice, stock, butter and pumpkin into an oven proof dish. Cover tightly with lid or foil, and bake for 30 minutes at 200C.
Meanwhile, grill the bacon until crispy. Blot any excess oil with kitchen paper.
Take out the risotto after 30 minutes, and stir through. There will still be some liquid, but this does get absorbed. Sprinkle in the peas, and replace lid. Peas will cook in the stock. 3 minutes for fresh. 5-6 for frozen.
Sprinkle over the parmesan, and stir through. The risotto will now thicken, and there should be very little if any liquid remaining.
Dish into bowls, and top with the cooked bacon and chopped parsley.

This was very good, though I think next time I'd try half cheddar and half parmesan, as I preferred my risottos a bit creamy.

Rhubarb and Plum Crumble

2007-01-08T19:24:00.000+13:00

MacMan presented me with a bundle of rhubarb from the garden yesterday. There can be no greater dish for rhubarb than a crumble. This particular recipe was strongly inspired by..... Tana Ramsay's book. No surprises there then! I did simplify the method of cooking the fruit however, as I'm afraid I found her instructions rather faffy. And I substituted her suggested peaches for plums as I still had a bag left over from the boys at the dairy - as used for the fruit gratin a couple of days ago. I seem incapable of following a recipe to the letter!!!

Rhubard and Plum (or Peach!) Crumble
Serves 6

For fruit base:
4 peaches, washed (or 8 plums!)
100g soft butter
250g brown sugar (recipe recommends demerera, but I used soft brown as I love the treacly flavour)
6 sticks rhubarb, cut into chunks

For topping:
150g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
80g butter
80g demerera sugar (I used 'coffee crystals' which is like demerera only bigger bits, to give a crunch to the topping)
4 tbsp chopped nuts

My simplified version of TR's is to put all the fruit together in an oven proof dish. Scatter with the brown sugar and dot butter over the fruit.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes.
In the meantime, rub the flour, cinnamon in with the butter for the topping until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add chopped nuts and sugar. Mix in gently with your fingers.
Sprinkle the topping over the cooked fruit, and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

This was a lovely way to cook a crumble. I served it with some fresh cream. Baking the fruit rather than stewing it stopped it from going mushy. The crumble topping had a lovely crunch, and the cinnamon was a nice twist too.

Chicken in a Pot

2007-01-08T19:20:00.000+13:00

Yet more from Tana Ramsay! I'm really loving this book so far. There seem to be dishes and recipes for all family occasions. And it's good to stretch my 'repetoire' a little. I get bored cooking the same thing week in week out, and I'm sure The Family must get bored if the same dishes are served up all of the time.

Chicken in a Pot
Serves 6

2 tbsp olive oil
150g streaky bacon, cut into 1cm pieces
400g shallots (I used 2 medium onions)
2kg whole chicken
3 medium carrots cut into chunks
3 medium leeks, cut into chunks
250 ml wine (recipe calls for white, but I had red so used that instead)
500 ml chicken stock
400 ml tin tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh thyme (though of course I had to be different and use rosemary, as that's what we have)
3 bay leaves
200g mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp flour
25g butter

Preheat oven to 200C.
Heat the olive oil in a casserole pot on the stove (ideally you need a deep pot with a lid). Fry the bacon and shallots/onions until they just start to colour. Tip into a plate, and reserve for later.
Place the chicken in the pot, and brown on all side. Put to one side - on the plate with the bacon and onions would be a good place!
Put the carrots and leeks in the casserole, and fry for 5 mins. Then return the chicken, bacon and onions/shallots to the pot.
Pour the wine, chicken stock and chopped tomatoes over the chicken. Mix in the chopped herbs and bay leaves.

Bring to the boil on the stove, before putting on well fitting lid and placing casserole in the oven for 30 minutes.
Take casserole out of oven, baste chicken, and add the chopped mushrooms to the pot.
Return to oven for another 30 minutes.
After cooking time is finished, take the casserole out of the oven. Put the chicken on a serving plate, and return to the oven (now switched off) while you make the gravy.
Strain veggies out of cooking juices. Put the veg into a warm serving plate. Reserve the liquid to make the gravy.
Make a paste with the butter and flour. Put the casserole on a medium heat on the stove, stirring the butter and flour paste into the cooking juices
Simmer for a couple of minutes to allow the gravy to thicken.
Serve, ideally with mashed potatoes, and the veg/bacon mix that was cooked with the chicken.

This was so lovely. I served it with mashed kumura, and the veg mix as suggested. I love roast chicken, but usually do it very simply - i.e. shove in the oven bare and roast! The gravy was maybe a bit richer than the recipe intended, as I used red wine rather than white. But it was probably the tastiest gravy I've made with chicken. And not a gravy granule in site!!! Very annoyingly, MacMan was called into work early, and so didn't get to sample the dinner. However, this did mean I had plenty of chicken and veg left to use for stock! Not really what I had in mind though.

Jammy Dodgers - Episode 2

2007-01-08T12:03:00.000+13:00

I had such rave reviews from The Family for the first batch of jammy dodgers, and asking for more. I wanted to have another go and see if I could manage to get a more workable dough. This time I made the dough by hand in a mixing bowl. The difference in the dough was amazing. Soooo much easier to roll out. Clearly food processors do NOT make great biscuit dough! This time I managed to get 26 dodgers from the dough, with a bit left over for the Princess of Power to roll out too.

Danish Pastry Pizzas

2007-01-08T10:34:00.000+13:00

We went out for the afternoon yesterday (to the Botanic Gardens in Auckland - very beautiful, and what's more free to visit). I knew I wouldn't fancy slaving over a hot stove when we got back. Rather than sling a frozen pizza in the oven (which I have to say I hate anyway), I thought I'd have a bash at these 'Danish Pastry Pizzas'. They're little pizzas that are rolled like a swiss roll, and then cut into slices.

Danish Pastry Pizzas
Makes 12

300g strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp fast acting yeast
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
200ml tepid water
4 tbsp passata (I had to use watered down tomato puree, as can't find passata here for love nor money!)
1 tsp dried oregano (I used fresh rosemary, as we have a huge plant in the garden)
125g grated mozzarella
Crushed garlic (this isn't in the orginal recipe, but I put about 3 cloves crushed garlic in with the tomato mixture)

If you had an electric mixer or bread maker, make the dough in that. Add the flour, water, oil, sugar, salt and yeast. I put these ingredients in the breadmaker and set to dough, before we went out.
If you prefer to mix by hand, put the dry dough ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and water. Stir the liquid around, and stir into a dough. Once you have a lump of dough, start using your hands. Kneed on a well floured surface. After 5 minutes of stretching and kneading, put the dough into a clean mixing bowl and leave in a warm place to rise for 40 minutes.
After the 40 minutes (or at the end of the dough cycle in the breadmaker), take the dough and knead again for a minute or so, and then pull the dough into a rectangular shape (roughly 40cm X 25cm) on a large chopping board.
Spoon the passata (or diluted tomato paste with crushed garlic if you use my method!) over the pizza dough and spread evenly around. Sprinkle with the herbs and mozzarella.

Roll the pizza so that the longest side of the rectangle is in front of you. Very carefully, roll the pizza up like a swiss roll.
Cut into 12 pieces, and place on a baking sheet (lined with paper) cut side up.
Bake for 25 minutes.

The finished result - as you can see - wasn't wildly pretty. But no-one seemed to mind as they were really tasty. Think maybe next time I'll be a bit more stingy with the filling. But they really were tasty, and SO much nicer than the readymade frozen variety. I think these will become a feature in MacMan's and Twirly Boy's packed lunches.

Jammy Dodgers

2007-01-06T22:15:00.001+13:00

I'd heard about Tana's recipe for homemade jammy dodgers even before I'd decided to get the book. If I'm really honest, this was also one of the reasons I chose this particular book!! Mad - I know. But Jammy Dodgers were such a childhood treat, to be able to make homemade ones sounded really fab.

Homemade Jammy Dodgers
Makes 25 biscuits

225g unsalted butter, diced
100g sugar
200g plain flour
100g ground almonds
150g raspberry jam
icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Mix butter, sugar, flour and almonds altogether in a large bowl. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 5 hours.
Remove dough from fridge and knead until it softens enough to shape and roll out.
Sprinkle some flour on the work surface, and roll out the dough one third at a time. The dough should be about 5mm thick.
Cut out an even number of shapes (a 6cm cutter is recommended). Cut out the centres of half of the cookie shapes.
Place on a greased baking sheet (or I always use baking paper as I find it is more reliable!)
Bake for 30 minutes at 140C.
Remove from oven, and immediately place on a cooling rack to stop the biscuit bottoms from overcooking.
Place a generous blob of jam in the middle of the complete biscuits, and place a cut-out biscuit on the top.
Dust icing sugar on the top if desired - I didn't, as I thought they looked more authentic without.

These biscuits were really delicious, so much so that MacMan and Twirly Boy have both requested they be made again. The Princess of Power made lot of yummy noises, and asked for more. In true jammy dodger fashion, her fascination lay with the jam oozing out of the centre! I do have to say though that the biscuit dough nearly drove me to distraction when rolling it out. Despite the pin and surface being well floured, it stuck to both, but at the same time was quite crumbly. I mixed the dough in the food processor, and I'm wondering if it's better to mix by hand using the rubbing in method. I'll try that next time.

Cheese and Ham Muffins

2007-01-06T21:52:00.000+13:00

As I've said previously, I love making muffins. So easy, and very versatile. So I was keen to give these ones a go. Oh, and I'd not made any bread for sandwiches. Doh!

Cheese and Ham Muffins
Makes 12 standard size

300g SR flour
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp paprika
75g butter
6 slices honey roast ham chopped into 1cm pieces ( I used bacon, as that's what we had!)
185g cheddar cheese, grated
1 egg
250 milk
6tbsp finely grated parmesan to sprinkle on the top

Preheat oven to 190C
Prepare muffin tin, either by greasing or with papers
Sieve the flour, paprika and mustard powder into a large mixing bowl. (I used grainy mustard, not powder, so mixed it in later).
Mix butter, eggs and milk together in a food processor. I also added my cooked bacon at this point, so that it was really finely chopped throughout the mixture. The recipe actually called for 1cm pieces to be added along with the cheese. You decide what you prefer!
Add cheese to flour mixture, and ham if not added already.
Stir in butter/milk etc mixture.Spoon into the muffin cases.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Cool on a wire cooling rack.

They were a big hit, and got wolfed down by Twirly Boy. Even the Princess of Power managed one!

Fruit Gratin

2007-01-06T21:09:00.000+13:00

MacMan stopped at the dairy (NZ speak for corner shop) the other day. Outside the shop two young boys were selling bags of fresh plums from a tree in their garden. The bags were being sold for $1 a bag, and MacMan said from what he could tell, all of the proceeds were being immediately used to buys sweeties from the dairy!
Tana Ramsay's Fruit Gratin Breakfast recipe called for plums, apricots or nectarines. So seemed ideal for the boys' plums!!

Fruit Gratin
Serves 6

Butter to grease dish
6 plums/apricots/nectarines
425ml milk
3 eggs
75g plain flour
50g sugar
50g ground almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200C
Grease flan dish
Slice soft fruit in half, and remove stones. (I used plums, and used about 8).
Put the milk, sugar, eggs, flour, almonds and vanilla in the food processor and blitz for a couple of minutes.
Pour the liquid into the flan dish. Arrange the cut side down into the batter.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until batter is set. Serve immediately.

The dish turned out well, and it was nice to have something different for breakfast. If I make it again I'd probably use apricots or nectarines instead though, as the plums were a smidge tart.

Tana Ramsay

2007-01-06T17:00:00.000+13:00

I took delivery of Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen yesterday. I ordered it from amazon in the UK, as it's not published over here yet. Frustratingly, the Christmas post delays meant that it took about two weeks to arrive.

So far it looks really good. I've been looking for a family cook book to accompany my bible 'Jamie's Dinners', and I think this will do nicely. I find I so easily get into a rut, and I don't want our week to be 'Tuesday, so lasagne for dinner'!

I have lots of lovely recipe books, but I was looking for something that would give me inspiration for our regular family meals, rather than the fancy cooking a lot of books seem to concentrate on.

I tend to plan our weeks menu before doing the weekly shop - it saves waste, but also means that I have the right ingredients!! And this week's menu is solely taken from this new book, in an effort to give it a really good try out.

Banana and Blueberry Muffins

2007-01-03T22:46:00.000+13:00

MacMan is often frustrated with me for buying too many bananas! The kids do eat them - as do I - but the Princess of Power in particular is fickle and will eats loads one week and none the next. But with recipes like this one for banana and blueberry muffins, there is no excuse for aging bananas to get thrown away. It's blueberry season here, so I used fresh. But frozen would do just as well.
I love making muffins, and have two recipe books dedicated to this food alone. This recipe is from 'Muffin Time' by NZ food writer Jill Brewis. Muffins aren't as pretty as Nigella cup-cakes, but the variety and combinations are endless. For muffin virgins, it's useful to note that the method of mixing is quite different that for a traditional sponge mixture. No creaming of sugar and butter here. Instead, all the dry ingredients are mixed together thoroughly, and all the wet ingredients are mixed together separately. Lastly, add the wet to the dry. Most recipes produce a mixture that looks more like a batter than a cake mixture.

Banana and Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 standard muffins

1 ½ cups SR Flour
½ cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
Pinch salt
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
¾ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 mashed banana (I used 2 small)
¾ cup blueberries (I used 125g punnet)

Preheat oven to 200C. Grease muffin pan - or line with papers if you don't trust your tin like me!
Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl.
Mix egg, oil, milk, vanilla and mashed banana in a separate bowl. Add the blue berries.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour in the liquid. Mix until just combined. Don't over mix else the muffins will be tough.
Spoon the mixture into the cases. Bake for 12-15 mins, until golden brown and spring back when gently pressed with your finger.

We all loved these. I have to say banana and blueberry might not be a combination I would have thought of - but it works really well. The muffins were really light, and the juice of the blueberries bursts in your mouth as you bite into the muffin. Yum!

Creamy sausage and mushroom pasta

2007-01-02T22:39:00.000+13:00

It feels like nearly everything I've cooked this week has been a use-up dish -i.e. using up food that's still in the fridge after the Christmas and New Year holidays. Not such a bad thing though, as we've had some pretty nice meals out of it all!
Anyway, today's supper was a continuation of the use -up . MacMan made us a lovely cooked breakfast on the BBQ yesterday morning. As usual, he cooked too many sausages. I also had cream to use up, and a punnet of mushrooms that wouldn't do well if left another day. I had a quick look in my pasta cookbook, and with some inspiration made a sort of carbonara - only with mushrooms and sausages rather than bacon and peas!

Creamy Sausage and mushroom pasta
Serves 3-4

1 onion
25g butter
8-10 mushrooms thinly sliced
3-4 cooked sausages, sliced
200 ml double cream
1 egg
handful grated fresh parmesan cheese
Sufficient pasta per person. I used 250g which was plenty for 2 adults and 2 kids.

Finely chop the onion and saute gently in the butter for about 5 mins, add the sliced mushrooms and continue to cook gently for another 5 minutes
In the meantime put the pasta onto cook.
Pour in the double cream and add the sausages.
Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes.
Add beaten egg to the sauces, and stir until sauce is thickened. Stir in grated parmesan. Remove from heat.
Drain pasta (now cooked) and add to sauce mixture.
Serve - with extra grated parmesan if desired, and ground black pepper.

Twirly Boy ate all of his dinner - which was pretty surprising as there were both onions and mushrooms in this dish. However, the onions were chopped really finely so he probably didn't notice them. And the sauce was so delish that he may well not have noticed there were mushrooms either and just confused them for sausage pieces. The Princess of Power didn't eat much - but then she's having a general savoury embago at the moment anyway. Shame this dish is so rich and therefore not the best thing for the waistline!

Brandy Snap Baskets

2007-01-01T20:49:00.000+13:00

I've always loved brandy snaps. Indeed we had brandy snap baskets (filled with strawberries if the old grey matter is serving me ok) for desert on our wedding day. I've never attempted home made though, and was most impressed when my friend served home made ones for her Christmas Day party. She assured me they weren't difficult, just a bit fiddly. Twirly boy is a fellow devotee, so I thought I'd have a bash at making them for our New Year pud. MacMan wasn't too thrilled, as he's not so keen.

Brandy Snaps

4 tbsps. golden syrup
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tbsp brandy
4 tbsps. flour
4 tbsps. brown sugar
grated rind of half a lemon
4 oz. (125g) butter
Nutmeg

Warm together the butter, sugar and syrup until melted then remove from heat
Blend in the flour, nutmeg, ginger and lemon then add the brandy (as usual, I had to make a substitution as I didn't have the correct ingredients. We didn't have any brandy, so I used a tbsp sherry instead, which worked fine.
Beat well together then drop spoonfuls of the mixture, well spaced apart on to greased baking sheetsBake at 180C for about 8-10 minutes or until golden brown
Lift each snap off the baking sheet with a palette knife and roll them up over the handle of a greased wooden spoon, or for baskets shape over the bottom of an upturned glass.
Slip off and allow to cool.
Serve with whipped cream, ice-cream, fruit etc.

The brandy snaps turned out really well. I found I needed to leave plenty of space between the biscuits as the mixture spreads a lot. And it was easier to shape them if allowed to cool for just a couple of minutes. Twirly boy was really chuffed to be served one of his fav deserts. And even MacMan liked them - saying they were so much nicer than bought ones. I served them with a scrummy gingerbread ice-cream. It's apparently limited edition for Christmas time, but seems to be really popular so I'm hoping it becomes a regular flavour! Anyway, this new flavour went really well with the brandy snaps.

Cheese Fondue

2006-12-31T21:17:00.000+13:00

We had cheese fondue for dinner tonight, shamelessly copying (although I preferred to say 'inspired by') my friend Claire who is serving fondue for her Hogmanay party!
MacMan and I were given a gorgeous Le Crueset fondue set for a wedding present from some friends from my nursing days - who I've now sadly lost touch with as we've all moved and moved on. It's cool to think that we're still getting use from our lovely set over 14 years on, and I always think of them when we use it. We don't do fondue very often, and I'm not sure why as it's really pretty easy, and the kids certainly thought it was great fun.
Anyway, big thanks to Claire for the idea. It went down really well hear. I hope your hogmanay guests enjoy it as much as we did.

Cheese Fondue

1 clove garlic
quarter pint white wine
8oz cheddar grated
8oz gruyere grated (couldn't find gruyere here, but MacMan managed to get a very good Australian cheese that was very similar)
1 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp castor sugar
1 tbsp kirsch (though I have to say I never bothered with that; I'm not buying a whole bottle of kirsch for one blimmin tbsp!)
1/2 tsp dry mustard (I used my old faithful grainy mustard)
ground black pepper

Rub clove of garlic inside fondue pan.
Add the wine to pan - reserving one tbsp.
Add all cheeses and stir well until melted.
Blend remaining wine with cornflour, lemon juice, sugar and kirsch, mustard and pepper.
Stir into fondue. Cook until thickened.
Dunk crusty bread, raw veg, pickled onions etc.

Christmas leftovers

2006-12-28T23:23:00.000+13:00

Connor gave me a lovely cook book for Christmas, called Cafe Collection by Julie le Clerc. I'm loving the cafes in NZ. The food served is far more than your bog standard ham sarnie and a latte. I have to say MacMan isn't so keen - and would probably prefer the ham sarnie. So I'm thinking this book was maybe an attempt by MacMan to reduce my cafe visits?!

Whatever the reason behind the choosing of the book, it has some really lovely looking recipes in, reflecting the multi-cultural NZ palette. This is the first dish I've cooked from it. The actual recipe is called Chicken and Broccoli pie, but I added cooked ham to my pie filling as I wanted use up Nigella's ham from Christmas eve. The pie sounded really good in the book, and the ham was way too delicious to be shoved in a sandwich! I think this recipe would be great for any Christmas meat leftovers - cooked turkey, ham etc.

Chicken and Broccoli Pie
Serves 8-10

Paprika Pastry
3 cups flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp paprika (I used a full tsp - I'd bought it specially so wasn't going to faff around with half measures!)
250g butter, cubed

Filling
5 chicken breasts (I actually used 3, as also using the leftover Nigella ham).
400g head of broccoli
125g butter
3 crushed cloves garlic
5 tbsp flour
2½ cups stock
¼ cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

To make pastry , pulse flour, salt and paprika in a food processor to mix. Then add butter and whizz until you get 'breadcrumbs', then add sour cream to form a dough. I found the mixture was too sticky to knead, so added probably another half cup of flour to get a good dough mixture.
Chill for 20 minutes
If using raw meat as the recipe suggests, poach in a saucepan for 15 mins in simmering water. Strain, and reserve cooking water for stock. Cool chicken and slice.
Cut broccoli into florets, and blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and plunge in cold water to cool. Drain.
Melt butter in a pan. Add garlic and flour, and mix to smooth paste. Add stock, stirring all the time, until sauce is thickened. Add cream, and season to taste. Cool.
Roll 2/3 pastry to 3mm thick. Line a 24cm loose bottomed pie tin. (I use a ceramic pie dish, so blind cooked the base pastry first to ensure it cooked).
Mix chicken and broccoli (and ham!) into sauce, and pack into pastry case. Roll out remaining pastry to cover. Crimp edges to bind.
Chill for 20 mins, then bake in a preheated 190C oven for 45 mins until pastry crisp and golden brown. As the recipe recommends the pie is chilled before cooking, it could of course be prepared earlier in the day, or even the night before, before it is baked.

The pie was really delicious. I don't make pastry too often - as I'm not that great at it! And I probably would have used ready made pastry this time if I'd had any in the freezer. But it was well worth the faff of making this one by scratch. The unusual additions of paprika and sour cream made a really delicious pastry. This will definitely be repeated again.

Banoffee Pie

2006-12-26T10:10:00.000+13:00

We went to another friend's do today - a Boxing Day buffet. For my plate, I arranged to take desert. After some consultation with some friends about the best thing to take, I plumped with banoffee pie (thanks to Bisy for the idea). I then discovered this is the host's favourite pudding - no pressure there then!!
I made some mince pies with the Princess of Power and Twirly Boy the other day - cleverly using the pre-rolled sweet pastry I had in the freezer which was meant for the banoffee pie. Doh! I have to admit I couldn't be faffed to make my own pastry this time, so decided instead to use my friend S's caramel slice recipe as the starting point:

Banoffee Pie a la Cherrypie!
8-10 portions

For the biscuit base
1 cup plain flour
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 cup dessicated coconut
125 g melted butter
For the caramel
1 large tin condensed milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
30g butter
Topping
4-5 medium bananas
250ml double cream

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a 8 inch cake pan.
Mix all the base ingredients together. Press into the cake pan, and bake for 10 minutes.
Add the condensed milk, syrup and butter to a pan. Preferably a non stick as it will be much easier to clean out the toffee later.
Bring to the boil, and simmer for 4 minutes, stirring all the time.
Spread the hot toffee sauce (looks quite fudgy at this stage) over the biscuit base.
Return the tin to the oven, and bake for further 10 mins at 180 C.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
When completely cool, slice the bananas and arrange over the toffee.
Top with whipped cream. Decorate with chopped nuts, dusted chocolate etc.

The buffet was really lovely. My desert was just one of many contributions (all of which were scrummy). I was chuffed to bits though when the host told me that it was one of the best he had tasted. As he is a master connoseur of banoffee pie (!) I took this as praise indeed.

Chocolate Truffles

2006-12-25T21:11:00.000+13:00

I spotted a recipe for homemade chocolate truffles in the BBC Good Food magazine. I thought I'd have a go at these to make a more personal gift than bought chocolates to our host friends for the Christmas Day and Boxing Day parties.

Chocolate Truffles
Makes about 50 chocolates

280g good quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
284ml pot double cream
50g unsalted butter

Cocoa, chopped nuts, coconut, melted chocolate etc for coating your chocolates.

Chop the chocolate and tip into a large bowl (I used the food processor for the chopping)Heat the butter and cream gently in a saucepan, until the butter melts and the cream reaches simmering point.
Remove from heat, and pour over the chopped chocolate.
Stir the cream mix and chocolate together until smooth.
If desired, add any flavourings at this stage - e.g. bourbon, Grand Marnier, coconut rum. The mixture could of course be divided into different bowls to allow a variety of flavours. I didn't add any alcohol to my truffles this time, as I wasn't sure if they would be shared with children.
Chill the mix for at least 4 hours.
Shape the truffles. The recipe suggested using a melon baller. Great idea - if you can find a shop that sells them! I instead used the ½ tsp size from my set of measuring spoons, which worked reasonably well instead.
Coat the trufles immediately after shaping. And place on a sheet of greaseproof paper and chill again.

I used dessicated coconut (dry toasted in a non-stick frying pan), chopped nuts, cocoa. Nicest of all was a really good white chocolate with macademia nuts, chopped in the food processor and then melted. I don't usually care for white chocolate, but this was much less sickly than Milky Bar, plus as a coating it balanced out the richness of the dark chocolate truffle centre.
The truffles keep for three days in the fridge, or up to a month in the freezer. They can be eaten straight from the freezer as they don't freeze solid.

The chocolates were delicious and much complimented. I did manage to save a few for us too! I'll definitely make them again, but will try to source a melon baller in the meantime as I'm sure this will make the process a bit less fiddly.

Pesto Rice Salad

2006-12-25T20:44:00.000+13:00

It was our first Kiwi Christmas today - and in true Kiwi tradition we were invited to a BBQ. It is customary to 'bring a plate' in NZ - i.e take some food, not crockery! I took a big bowl of pesto rice salad, using the pesto made a couple of days ago. The recipe is highly inspired by a Delia one - from her summer collection. She uses arborio rice, but I prefer to use basmati rice as it is fluffy and light. I find using arborio makes the salad too sticky when combined with the pesto. Sorry Delia!

Pesto Rice Salad

2 cups basmati rice (cooked in microwave in 4 cups water for 13 mins)
1 cup pesto (fresh is nicer, but jarred would do fine)
Parmesan shavings
Handful pine nuts
Fresh basil leaves

Cook rice according to instructions
Allow to cool a little
Stir in pesto
Allow to cool completely, and chill in the fridge
Stir in parmesan shavings (I did mine using a potato peeler)
Stir in handful pine nuts
Sprinkle over fresh basil leaves before serving

I'm glad to say the salad went down well. We had such a lovely day, and were made to feel so welcome by our friends and their family members. Our kids all played really well together, and had a great time. Considering the amount of excitement and sugar, there were very few spats amoungst the kids - and non at all for the adults!!

Christmas (Eve) Dinner

2006-12-25T00:00:00.000+13:00

MacMan requested that we have roast ham this year for our Christmas dinner. As already mentioned, we had our family dinner on Christmas eve as we're going to friends Christmas Day and Boxing day. I've been on the look out for a special ham recipe, as I haven't cooked a ham before. I've heard lots of recommendations for Nigella's coca cola ham, and so decided to try this one - if only out of curiosity! As usual a couple of 'adaptations' have been made to the recipe. This is not meant in anyway to try and prove that I can better the Goddess herself, but sometimes I don't have the exact ingredients in my larder, so use the nearest equivalent.

Nigella’s Ham in Coca Cola
Serves 8

2kg gammon
2 litre bottle coca-cola (not diet)

For the glaze
1 tbsp black treacle
2 tbsp brown sugar (I used soft brown)
2 tbsp grainy mustard (Nigella calls for 2 tsp English mustard powder, but I don't like English mustard)

Place gammon joint in large pan, and pour over the coca-cola. Put lid on - though not tightly. (I didn't have a pan deep enough, so used our biggest pot, and had to use another pan as a lid! Worked just fine).
Bring to the boil, and reduce to a simmer for 2 and half hours. (Note - if ham has been cooked straight from fridge, it is advised to simmer joint for a further 15 minutes to ensure cooked through).
Allow to cool for a short while - for ease of handling.
Preheat oven to 240 C.
Transfer to roasting dish - without coke liquid. (Nigella recommends the liquid is retained to use as a base stock for black bean soup at a later date. I have duly stored the stock in the freezer, and just have to remember to buy some black beans when Christmas is all over!)
Use a sharp knife to score a criss cross pattern into the fat of the ham.
Stud each diamond with a clove. Spread the treacle and mustard over the skin.
Roast for 10 minutes.

This was a HUGE success! The ham literally slid off the bone when being carved, and almost melted in the mouth. It was sooo tender. It does sound a little 'out there' cooking a roast in coke, but it doesn't taste out there at all. We served it with roast kumara, roast potatoes and broccoli in a white sauce.

Until the last couple of years, my favourite pudding was Christmas pudding. Not just for Christmas either! Very strangely, I’ve found my tastes have changed, and I’m really not so keen these days. It therefore seemed obvious to make a Pavlova, seeing as it’s regarded at NZ’s national dish!

This recipe comes courtesy of my favourite Kiwi. I adapted it slightly, using soft brown sugar rather than the suggested white. And thank goodness I now have an electric whisk. I once tried to make pavlova in the UK and my electric whisk had broken. I was knackered -but I guess I did at least burn off some of the calories!!

Minky’s Pavlova

4 egg whites
2 tsp vinegar
2 cups of soft brown sugar
4 Tbsp cold water(the recipe also called for vanilla extract – but I’ve run out.

Beat egg whites until frothy.
Add other ingredients. Beat for 10 minutes.
Spread on a baking sheet lined with baking paper
Bake at 130 for 20 mins, turn oven off and cook a further 30 mins. Don't use a fan oven! Slow cooking is everything.

The pavlova came out really well – so well that I think Minky would hopefully have approved. Using soft brown sugar rather than white sugar gave the meringue a sort of toffee taste - lovely. I filled the centre with whipped cream with toasted coconut and chopped nuts stirred through, and topped with the obligatory Kiwi fruit. The Princess of Power has developed a real passion for Kiwi fruit. Awkwardly Twirly Boy has not – but then he doesn’t like strawberries either so must be a freak of nature! He picked his kiwi off and ate the rest - so not too much of a problem.

Egg yolk lemon sponge

2006-12-23T21:20:00.000+13:00

I can’t bare waste. So I was a bit stumped when faced with four left over egg yolks after making pavlova in preparation for tomorrow’s dinner. I searched on the net, and found a light sponge cake. I’ve adapted it a bit to make it a lemon sponge, as we have a litre of fresh lemon juice in the fridge – courtesy of our lovely neighbour’s lemon tree!

Egg yolk lemon sponge

4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tsp lemon zest
¾ cup SR flour

Preheat oven to 180˚C

Beat egg yolks, sugar and lemon juice until light and creamy

Add flour, fold in gently.

Add some lemon zest if wanted

Pour into greased or lined 8inch cake pan

Bake 25 mins, or until centre cake springs back

The cake was lovely – and went down a treat served with cream for pudding (it is Christmas time after all). As there is no fat in the cake, I doubt it would keep very long. However, as it is so yummy, that wasn’t really an issue.

Carrot and Coriander Soup

2006-12-23T20:38:00.000+13:00

I think I've mentioned that we're having our family Christmas Dinner tomorrow - Christmas Eve, as MacMan is working on the big day. So I wanted to prepare something pretty simple for supper, both in the preparation and in the eating. Having a wee look in the fridge and pantry, decided on carrot and coriander soup.

Carrot and Coriander Soup
Serves 4-6 (depending on how hungry you are!)

2 small onions
tbsp butter
6 medium carrots
tin of plum tomatoes
clove or two garlic
handul chopped coriander
splash of cream or creme fraiche

Finely chop the onions and crush the garlic

Melt the butter in a pan, and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened.

Grate the carrots (I use my food processor for this, as I strangely detest grating by hand!)

Add carrots and tomatoes to onion mixture. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Whizz with a hand blender to desired consistency.

Add chopped coriander, and splash of cream or creme fraiche.

Serve - ideally with garlic bread. Though crusty bread would do just as well.

No complaints from the fussy family when presented this. Oh, apart from MacMan wanting it to be blended to a smoother consistency. Clearly he'd forgotten to put his teeth in!

Brazilian Chicken

2006-12-23T08:40:00.000+13:00

We had this for dinner last night. It isn't chicken with a risque bikini wax (as my friend August girl suggested - check out her fab Rock Cakes blog). It is however a really scrummy chicken dish with a coconut and tomato sauce. It has just a hint of chile - enough to satisfy MacMan, and little enough to get away with feeding it to Twirly boy!

The recipe was taken from a recent issue of BBC Good Food magazine, which I was very chuffed to find in a book store over here. It's usually a month out of date - but I can cope with that. I'm usually late for everything anyway!!

Brazillian Chicken
Serves 6

6 Chicken breasts
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions
1 chile
2 cloves garlic
1 can tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
handful chopped coriander

Heat olive oil in a large pan, and brown chicken for about 1o mins, turning over to do both sides

Set chicken on a plate to one side

Put onions, chile and garlic in a food processor. Whizz to make a paste. (I also added 4 small sweet capsicums from the fridge that needed using up, so not sure how authentic my end dish was!)

Add the onion paste to the pan, and cook in the oil (left from the chicken) for about 10 minutes until soft.

Add the can of tomatoes to the cooked onion mixture, and then return the chicken to the pan. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Stir in coconut milk to the chicken mixture.

Simmer for further 15 mins until sauce is thickened.

Sprinkle over a good handful of chopped coriander to serve.

We had ours with garlic bread, and green salad. Could also be served with rice, or whatever you fancy!

Pesto

2006-12-22T22:38:00.000+13:00

We've been invited to a friend's BBQ on Christmas Day. In NZ it is customary to 'bring a plate' (i.e. bring some food - not an actual plate!!) when you go to a 'do' at someone's home. They're organising all the meaty stuff, so I'm going to take some salad. Pesto rice salad to be more precise.
I'm ashamed to say I only made pesto for the first time this year. Before that I always made do with the jarred variety. Now there's nothing wrong with bought pesto, but once you've made your own, and what's more realised just how easy it is to make, I'd be surprised if you went back to buying jars again.
I did my Christmas fruit and veg shop yesterday. Thought I may aswell make the pesto today while the basil was so fresh (and will save me from having to remember to water it).

Pesto
Fresh basil leaves
2-3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Handful pine nuts
Handful or two freshly grated parmesan cheese
Clove or two garlic

Place all ingredients in food processor, and whizz! Multitude of ways to serve, but for now I've popped mine in a jar in the fridge to keep for making the rice salad for Christmas Eve.

Cheese Scones

2006-12-22T20:29:00.000+13:00

In my usual rather disorganised fashion, it occurred to me at 11.30am that we had no bread to make lunchtime sandwiches. I rarely buy bread, as we have a breadmaker. But of course the blimmin machine has to be loaded with ingredients in order to produce bread.
I opened the fridge for some inspiration, and spotted a huge tupperware box of grated cheese. And some milk past its use by date. Cheese scones!
The following is a recipe adapted from an old Delia book - though hers called for wholemeal flour and I didn't have any. Delia doesn't mention sour milk either, however every self respecting Scottish woman knows that sour milk makes the best scones!

Credit should be mentioned here to the Princess of Power for her kind assistance (or should that read for her demands to "I mix it I MIX IT!!!". Thank goodness we had plenty of grated cheese as a good amount of 'tasting' was going on inbetween the mixing.

Cheese Scones

Makes about 6 scones

150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
25g butter (at room temperature)
75g grated mature Cheddar cheese (otherwise known as Tasty cheese in NZ!)
1 egg
2-3 tbsp milk (all the better if it's sour - honest)

Preheat oven to 220 C.

Sift flour together with salt and baking powder
Rub butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
Add cheese to breadcrumb mixture
Beat egg and milk together
Add to cheesey breadcrumb mixture, and mix together to form a dough
Split into 6 portions. Form a ball with each portion, and flatten it slightly to produce a scone shape. (I found the mixture a wee bit sticky to roll out, so formed the scones by hand)
Place the scones on a greased baking sheet. Add some additional grated cheese to the top if desired.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

I served the scones warm with a wee bit of butter and filled with bacon. Delish!

Feeding the Family

2006-12-21T09:48:00.000+13:00

Feeding my family decent home cooked food isn't actually that easy. Twirly Boy (8) is happiest when being fed McDonald's (yuck) or pizza. And don't even mention the words spicey or curry! The Princess of Power (2 and a half) is actually quite a bit more adventurous in her tastes, though will happily devour something one week and refuse to even taste it the next.
In theory, Mac Man is easier to please. But he doesn't like fish (issues with being forced to eat it as a child), and really likes hot and spicey!

As it's rather difficult to cook food that everyone will eat (and hopefully like), I find I get in a rut. Jamie's Dinners is a bit of a bible to me, but even that can get a bit samey. So I'm aiming to cook at least one new dish each week.

I love to bake too. I much prefer to offer my kids a home-made cake or biscuit rather than sweeties. And it doubles as a great fun activity we do together.

I hope you enjoy following me in my efforts to Feed the Family.